Yamato 1/72

Black Bird

Kit Review

Straight build

1/72 Black Bird - Size comparison with a cigarette pack.

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.

1/72 Black Bird - Various angles (1/5) 1/72 Black Bird - Various angles (2/5) 1/72 Black Bird - Various angles (3/5) 1/72 Black Bird - Various angles (4/5) 1/72 Black Bird - Various angles (5/5)

Various angles

1/72 Black Bird - Underside

Underside

1/72 Black Bird - Weapons loadout

Weapons loadout

1/72 Black Bird - The newly added missile pod included with this kit

The newly added missile pod included with this kit

1/72 Black Bird - Through a complex parts-swap process, you can recreate the landing/hangar configuration.

Through a complex parts-swap process, you can recreate the landing/hangar configuration.

1/72 Black Bird - Hangar configuration (1/2) 1/72 Black Bird - Hangar configuration (2/2)

Hangar configuration

1/72 Black Bird - Underside

Underside

1/72 Black Bird - With the pilot and ladder added. The ladder needs to be glued on.

With the pilot and ladder added.
The ladder needs to be glued on.

1/72 Black Bird - Included stand

Included stand

1/72 Black Bird - By disassembling and reassembling the nose section, you can turn it into a drone with a black nose.

By disassembling and reassembling the nose section, you can turn it into a drone with a black nose.

1/72 Black Bird - Comparison of the 2 nose colors (1/2) 1/72 Black Bird - Comparison of the 2 nose colors (2/2)

Comparison of the 2 nose colors

1/72 Black Bird - Assembled as a drone (1/2) 1/72 Black Bird - Assembled as a drone (2/2)

Assembled as a drone

1/72 Black Bird - Leftover parts

Leftover parts

1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (1/6) 1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (2/6) 1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (3/6) 1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (4/6) 1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (5/6) 1/72 Black Bird - Flight poses with various weapons loadouts (6/6)

Flight poses with various weapons loadouts

1/72 Black Bird - Together with the 1/72 Cosmo Zero Godai/Yamamoto machines.

Together with the 1/72 Cosmo Zero Godai/Yamamoto machines.

This kit is the 1/72 Black Bird released as part of the Yamato series. It's a retool of the 1/72 Cosmo Zero that came out back in 2013 — the main body is essentially the same build with only the molded colors changed. On top of that, a missile pod has been added as new armament, and an extra black nose runner has been thrown in to allow you to recreate the drone version.

So the basic kit features are completely identical to the original Cosmo Zero, and you can recreate the landing gear-down and hangar configurations through a fairly involved parts-swap process. The various missile armaments from the original are included as well, though they still require glue to attach, which makes swapping them out a bit of a hassle. The black nose drone parts are also provided, but you have to fully disassemble and reassemble the entire front section to use them, which is a bit of a pain.

Just like the original Cosmo Zero, this one has a different feel compared to Bandai's Gunpla. It's not exactly difficult to build, but there are quite a few points where you need to be careful, and a fair number of parts that require glue — so keep that in mind. Anyway, while there aren't any major changes, the completely different molded colors give it a fresh, new-release feel, making it a solid color variant kit that gives Yamato fans more options to choose from. :-)

1/72 Black Bird | 2019. 3 | ¥3,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.